In ‘Wicked: Part I’, Cynthia Erivo defies gravity — and convention — as Elphaba

For more than two decades, the musical Wicked has been a Broadway favorite. Now, The Wizard of Oz prequel is making the shift from the stage to the screen. Since 2000, actresses all over the country — and the world — have played Elphaba, and the latest powerhouse singer to don green face paint and belt that signature gravity-defying high note is Cynthia Erivo.

Erivo isn’t a stranger to high notes. She made her Broadway debut in 2015, starring as Celie Harris in the revival of The Color Purple – a role that won her the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Erivo visited NPR’s New York studio before the film’s release to talk with All Things Considered host Scott Detrow about stepping into the iconic role.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

Scott Detrow: From the first few seconds of the film, I was just so blown away by the visuals and the world of Oz, and the way that [the movie] portrays it. I’m just wondering, what did it feel like to step onto that set in full costume and makeup and just inhabit that world for the first time?

Cynthia Erivo: I mean, it was really, really overwhelming. And I think the wonderful thing about doing it the way we have, is that everything is really practical. So [production designer] Nathan Crowley and his wonderful set designing team created the world of Oz so when we were on the set, we were on the set. Very little green screen, very little blue screen. You can touch it, you can feel it. It felt like you could sort of disappear into the world. I loved the feeling. It was very overwhelming. That very first day was a lot. (laughs)

Detrow: Going into this, I’m curious, how much did Wicked the musical or The Wizard of Oz – how big did those two loom in your mind growing up? You’re a lifelong theater person, musical person…

Erivo: Obviously, The Wizard of Oz for me — was first. It was a lot of my childhood. We used to watch it as a family. And in London, you used to have Saturday films, weekend films, and they would come on, I think it was Channel 4. And then, when I was at drama school, I think I was about 20 years old, that’s when I heard about Wicked because I started learning the music. A friend of mine would steal away with me to a piano room, and we would sit at the piano and we would learn the libretto. By the time I left drama school at about 23, I knew the music like the back of my hand – and I’d never seen the show!

By the time I was 25, when I could afford a ticket to go to the West End, I bought myself a solo ticket and took myself on a date – it was my birthday – to see Wicked. I think there’s something about a story — about a person who feels like they’re on the outside — who’s treated like they’re different. That sort of clung to me. I got it immediately.

Detrow: What do you think you would have thought in that moment if somebody said, “And down the line, you’ll be starring in the movie version of this, going all over the world talking about it”?

Erivo: I would probably have said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” You know, I barely believed that I was going to go to Broadway with The Color Purple, so I don’t know if I would have believed them, to be honest.

Detrow: When you think about the themes of Wicked, there is a very powerful “us vs. them” current running through the movie. Have you given thought to how relevant that is in this particular moment in time?

Erivo: Yeah, and it keeps coming up about how relevant it is right now. But I don’t think that ever changes. I think that it stays relevant. I think we keep being reminded of it. We’re still shunning certain people. We’re still not making space for people. But there is room to change. There is room for empathy, there is room for growth. So, I do think it’s always going to be relevant. I think it was relevant when The Wizard of Oz came out, and I think it’s relevant right now.

Detrow: This is a movie that, as a musical – as you well know – so many people have connected with so deeply because so many people have felt in one way or another like an outsider. What do you say to somebody who’s listened to that soundtrack 7,000 times because they feel like an outsider?

Erivo: I would say that that thing that makes you feel like an outsider is that thing that also makes you special. I’m definitely not like your cookie-cutter, normal, everyday being. I’m very different, you know? And it takes time to be okay with that. But the moment you are, it’s very freeing.

There’s something about you. You’re different, and that’s okay. And it might be the thing that gets you exactly where you need to be. I don’t think that if I didn’t understand what it is like to feel different, what it’s like to feel like you’re on the outside, that this [role] would have come my way. This is a massive moment, and my dreams are coming true, but I think it definitely has something to do with how different I feel and have been, you know?

Be brave. You’ll be okay.